By Princewill Ekwujuru

Employees of foremost brewer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, have once again come forward to contribute to the community under another “Friends of the Community” project tagged ‘Read for Life’.

Under this project, employees of Guinness Nigeria on Friday, 29th June 2012, visited Western Boys  High School and Notre Dame Group of Schools in Benin and Brilliant Academy and St John’s Secondary School, both in Mangoro, Lagos and donated books to students in order to enhance the reading culture amongst young people in the country.

The group “Friends of the Community” is a charity-driven initiative in which Guinness Nigeria employees donate resources and volunteer their time to make positive contributions to different groups of people in their host communities. It is also an integral part of the Sustainability and Responsibility agenda of the company.

Speaking on the “Read for Life” project, Corporate Relations Director, Mr. Sesan Sobowale said “At Guinness Nigeria, we encourage talent and skills development. Our aim for the current initiative is to support our young people and enhance the reading culture among students as we look forward to them becoming great leaders in the future.”

Mr. Precious Olumide, Vice Principal, Administration of St John’s Secondary School, Mangoro commended Guinness Nigeria for their efforts. “Guinness Nigeria has portrayed itself as a good corporate citizen and we are indeed grateful for this gesture. We promise to put this books and the knowledge you have shared with us today to good use”, he said.

Mrs. Adrianne Nwagwu, Head Sustainability & Responsibility Guinness Nigeria said the students who are beneficiaries of this unique initiative are expected to influence others and show them the importance of reading.

“We cannot reach everyone, none the less by sharing these books we shall gradually reach many youths, most especially children in senior secondary schools that are easily distracted by the new age of social media and peer pressure”, she stated.

Mrs. Nwagwu recounted past activities of “Friends of the Community” which was constituted in 2005. She stated that there have been many successes recorded which include the refurbishing of the Ikeja/Ogba Roundabout, the repainting of blocks of classrooms in two primary schools in Lagos and Benin, the donation of beddings and spending time with patients at the Guinness Eye Centre, LUTH, as well as several visits to various orphanages in Lagos, Benin and Aba.